May 10
28
Bloom Where You Are Planted
Our guest blogger this week, Maggie Hsu, has been a long-time friend of our family. She has a great love of people, a passion for sports, an amazing sense of humor (Maggie–I love to hear you laugh!), and basically enjoys life. Her happiness is contagious! She is a great wife and mother to three boys, with a little girl on the way. Hope you enjoy her words of wisdom today…!
Recently in a Sunday School class I was really struck at how much a story in the Old Testament related to me–and it really got me pondering. My background consists of moving a lot when growing up. I have lived in many places within the continental United States. The majority of my time has been spent in two states in particular–Florida and Washington State. Both have great advantages and disadvantages. While in high school, I lived in eastern Washington and only applied to one college–located in sunny Florida (because I wanted to be in more sun and less snow). My years in college were great. I met wonderful people, had great experiences, and a lot of sun. The disadvantage surprised me: I missed the mountains terribly.
After college and some random traveling, I found myself back in Washington State again. Western Washington surprised me at how green it was and how pretty it could be despite being a VERY urban area. The spring and summertime here can hardly be beat in beauty and the amount of activities that can be enjoyed here. However, come winter the drizzly and dreariness that the Seattle area is famous for starts to grate on me and my memories of sunny Florida surface. Seriously, Miami gets more annual rainfall(67”) than Seattle (36”).
Now back to that Sunday School lesson. We were discussing the Israelites and their inability to be grateful for what the Lord had given them. They had been given manna daily for their hunger. Well, after having just manna for a rather long time, those memories of fish and other types of food surfaced. They wanted something different, some meat. (This story can be found in the Old Testament in Numbers chapter 11.) The Lord had to remind them to be grateful–and in not a pretty manner.
I need to be more grateful for the things in my life, not what I think I am missing. Running across this quote summed up what I need to do: “The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to bring blessings to our Heavenly Father’s children. You are planted in your country, your community, your family to facilitate these blessings. I urge you to bloom where you are planted!” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Bright as the Sun,” New Era, Jun 2006, 2–6)
